Blog #8: Continued Reflection on Beyond the Color Line
BLOG # 8: Continued Reflection on Beyond the Color Line (After We Have Finished the Portions of the movie that we are going to watch.)
Part 1: Institutions (army and police force) & Racism in the South
Summary (how I see it): The army and police force nowadays have changed A LOT from what they were, and they are mostly “colorblind” with few exceptions. In terms of the South, many African Americans feel a certain, almost nostalgic, attachment to the South, as the place of their ancestors, and also, as the founding place of the Civil Rights Movement. It is where they feel at home, more than that, they think of it as their home, where they belong. Many who experienced racism when they were children, such as Morgan Freeman, still perceive the South as their home and the place where they belong.
Part 2: The Chicago Projects (racism in poverty)
Interviews with a family that had been in poverty for generations, interview with a young man living in poverty, and an interview with a prison inmate. The Chicago Projects is an impoverished and crime filled community dominated by African Americans. The conversation/interview with the woman who was the head of a household that included 3 generations of poverty was very sad, the woman was filled with hopelessness about her future and the future of her children and the future of her children’s children. She thought that even though they had decided to tear down the huge, claustrophobic building that she lived in at the time, she was still sure that the crime, drugs, violence, and poverty that she lived with at that point would follow her, along with her neighbors to another place, wherever they ended up settling. Their living conditions were almost sickening, in extreme heat they were stuck in this claustrophobic building with over 1000 other inhabitants. That, and her lack of hope for her future and the generations following her was very sad, and it was clear that there were so many other people and families in her same predicament, it was really quite sad.
The interview with the young man who was striving to leave the projects and create a better future for himself was also very sad. I can’t remember the exact numbers but I think that the young man could make about 10 times more money selling drugs per week than he made per year working at Popeye’s. He said Popeye’s was really the only job that he could find, and it was clear that he was trying to do the right thing by having a job, instead of dealing drugs, but it is easy to see how tempting it probably is for him to just sell drugs to make more money and get himself out of his impoverished and crime filled community. It is really sad.
The interview with the prison inmate was a little bit more uplifting and was actually a very revealing interview. It was perhaps the most open and interesting interview in the whole movie. The inmate expressed the fact that he had been in jail numerous times before, and that it had actually been kind of fun when he was younger, but now that he realized he was getting older, and had a wife and kids to take care of, he thought he would try to do better and not do anything that might result in his being sent to jail. In his eyes, the corruption in his community was because of a lack of role models for children, especially young boys to look up to. He said growing up he had not had a father in the house, because most fathers had left their wives, were involved with drugs or alcohol, or were in jail. He said that as a young boy, when he walked out his front door, he saw drugs, and violence, and crime, not firefighters, or professors or more positive occupations and role models. The man seemed very intelligent and experienced and he was very open in speaking with Gates. When Gates pointed out his intelligence and said that he could become a teacher, the man responded “I know”, but he went on to say that if he became a teacher or a professor he would just leave his community, and that would just add to the problem of having a lack of good role models in his community. What he had to say was very interesting, and I thought that it was a great interview.
Part 3: Didn’t watch (racism in wealth)
Part 4: Racism in Hollywood (the industry)
For African American actors at the top, overall they felt that a star is a star, no matter what their race. Pretty consistently the actors revealed that, yes, they had experienced their fair share of racism in their lives, but that the fact was, they had to just overcome it.
For actors that were struggling to make a living acting, they said that especially the color of their skin, whether it was darker or lighter seemed to have an affect on how successful they were, because, somehow, the fact that their skin was lighter seemed to have some kind of effect on how appealing they were to play a role. They said that they really felt racism when they auditioned for a commercial and they saw someone of a different race on the commercial on TV. I think this is true to an extent, but I think that all struggling actors deal with the fact that sometimes casting directors aren’t sure what kind of actor they want for a part, until they see all of the actors audition.
I thought Gates’ conversation with a famous director in the industry was particularly interesting. He talked about how a film starring two white actors would generally bring in about twice as much in the box office as a movie starring two African American actors, even if they are famous. The director attributed this fact to modern consumer culture, and the fact that people are more likely to go to a movie starring two white stars than a movie starring two well-known African American actors. This is a really sad fact, and I have to say that I thought a lot about how to change this, and I haven’t come up with a solution yet.
Q: What was the purpose of this film?
A: To explore racial views and perspectives towards African Americans and see how much times have changed, or whether African American people still feel largely affected by racial stereotypes, prejudices, and views. Also to explore African American lifestyles and their differences and how much they have changed over the last number of years.
Q: To what extent was that purpose fulfilled?
A: I thought Henry Lewis Gates Jr. and the people behind the making of the documentary did a really good job of interviewing a large scope of people, from famous African American movie stars to impoverished people living in the Chicago Projects, who are threatened daily by crime, drugs, and violence. The one thing about the movie that I would have liked to have added, was a closing statement from Gates about what he thought about racial views today, based on the movie, because, I feel like there was a lot of information packed into the movie. I would have liked Gates to make an arching, across the board statement about racial views in modern times, saying first that the viewer was encouraged to have their own opinion on the subject, but that, based on what he had witnessed, across the board, with a few exceptions, he made blank observation. Whatever it was, I feel like he addressed the making of this movie as being based on his own curiosity about African American lifestyles and how they have changed, and I think it would have been really interesting to see what he found and what he thought of his observations. Obviously, he might have a different opinion about it than me, or anyone else who watched the movie, but I am curious as to what he observed overall, or what he thought about the issue of racial views, especially after witnessing all of the movie first hand.
Q: Have racial prejudices and discrimination changed to a large extent, or are they still a major barrier for large numbers of people?
A: Yes, they have changed to a large extent, but in many cases, not even racial views, but the idea of segregation or integration is almost the same, even in all African American communities. White people often don’t feel comfortable living in those places that are dominated by almost all African American populations, and vice versa. I think the real answer is that, yes they have changed, but that they are still a big societal problem. The most prominent example of this was in the section about the army, when the white general was talking to Gates about a private who didn’t respect or obey the orders of an African American general, because his father had told him that he was never to obey the orders of an African American person. I thought this was very sad and a good indicator that racial prejudices and negative perspectives still have a big effect on society.
Q: Was the movie biased at all?
To a very minimal extent, but I was offended during some of the parts where I felt that Gates spoke about white people in a somewhat condescending or at least negative, manner. As I have said, I thought the movie was very well done, and I really enjoyed watching it, I am just being open on my blog about the fact that I was a little bit offended in some parts of the movie. Again, this was only to a very minimal extent, and I think it was actually only once during the course of the movie that I was offended. I am just putting that out there. Well, I feel bad about saying that, but I have said that I enjoyed the movie, there was just one part that I felt a little bit offended. And this is my blog so I think I am allowed to just be open about what I think and feel.
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